Texas Tech concluded its spring practice Saturday with its annual Red Black spring game, with the offense defeating the defense, 37-30. Here are five immediate thoughts from the game, which should leave Texas Tech fans feeling good about their offense and, as usual, a little wary of the defense.

1. Jakeem Grant steps up. The offense was expectedly vanilla, but several players still managed to stand out with strong individual performances. One such was Jakeem Grant, who looked like he was out to prove he was more than just a one-trick pony. Grant, a 5-foot-7 speedster who last year lined up in the slot and backfield to add a spark to the offense, looked the part of a true wide receiver. He ran strong routes, broke tackles and finished with five catches for 105 yards and a touchdown. You can bet coach Kliff Kingsbury and company have some more electric plays in their back pocket for Grant, but seeing the soon-to-be junior in midseason form at the spring game is encouraging.

2. Texas Tech fans, rest easy about Davis Webb. The unquestioned No. 1 quarterback at Texas Tech showed a variety of throws and looked comfortable in the pocket all game — obviously it’s easier to be relaxed when you know you aren’t going to get hit, but he still moved around in the pocket when necessary and did a good job replicating a live-game situation. He was an impressive 20 of 24 with 258 yards passing and four touchdowns in the first half before finishing 25 of 37 for 354 yards. He really only made one bad mistake (which should have been intercepted), but he finished the spring with 13 touchdowns in two scrimmages and the spring game and zero interceptions. Again, this was only the spring game, but Webb is light years ahead of where he was last fall when he made his debut against TCU.

3. Kenny Williams experiment put on hold. Texas Tech’s running back turned linebacker didn’t dress out for the spring game, much to the disappointment of folks hoping to get a look at the new defender who has climbed up the depth chart. However, other linebackers looking to replace stalwarts Terrance Bullitt and Will Smith showed flashes. Micah Awe, who has rotated in at middle linebacker for two years and made 58 tackles last season, controlled the box when he was on the field, and safety Keenan Ward looked like he could provide a strong presence in helping stop the run game.

4. Spring game scene still not nearly exciting as fall. Texas Tech athletics’ marketing department did just about all it could to get Red Raider nation out to the game, but the spring game just doesn’t draw people in Lubbock like it does in SEC country. Still, there was a good energy level from the players and coaches on the field during what essentially is a glorified practice — as evidenced by Texas A&M’s outright cancellation of the spring game.

5. The best is yet to come. This wasn’t the team you will see in fall thanks to a big recruiting class and several players that were held out of the spring game. Williams and starting safety J.J. Gaines should make this young defense better when healthy this season, and a trio of junior-college defensive linemen will add to the front-four rotation. Guys like incoming freshmen Ian Sadler (wide receiver) and Nigel Bethel (cornerback) will compete for playing time as soon as they step foot on campus, but fans will have to wait to until Aug. 30 against Central Arkansas to see how much this team has progressed.

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